Protein representation with lots of helices; Aquaporin molecule, family lets water into a cell. Nobel prize this year.

"Figures in a Beta Sheet"

Stick representation protein beta sheet

Ribbon representation

(Perhaps also whole protein)

Computer graphic representation of Protein(s) with lots of sheets, such as Superoxide Dismutase. This protein turns toxins into water inside your mitochondria. May be key to living longer. Mice fed SOD type compounds in a pill lived 50% longer.

UCSF Computer Graphics Lab using Chimera software.

A Tale of the Senses

Paintings on the five senses.

Even though our senses are so familiar to us, scientists are still solving the mysteries of how they work. Research on the senses is at the cutting edge, with new, exciting results being published continuously. The nobel prize was just awarded to two scientists studying the sense of smell, Dr. Richard Axel and Dr. Linda Buck. of the USA.

The Kimonos in this series came about as a result of the link between the Japanese Tea Ceremony and the senses. Tradition for the ceremony dictates that all the senses should be fulfilled at the ceremony - the smell and taste of the tea, the sound of the water, the feel of the warm tea cup, and the visual setup of the room in which it takes place are all part of the enjoyment of an afternoon in conversation over tea.**

"A Taste of India",
30" x 40"
Rug design made of taste receptor proteins - for sweet, sour, salty, umami, and bitter, with a taste bud in the center.

Computer generated image of a model of the protein which binds to sweet tastes . This protein is found at the end of small cilia at the end of taste bud cells.

Sense of Taste Kimono.
36" x 42"

f

Taste bud illustration by Chris Gralapp.

Taste Bud Cell Kimono and a Japanese Tea Ceremony.
36" x 42"

Taste bud close up illustration by Chris Gralapp.

Sense of Smell Kimono.
36" x 42"

Smell illustrations to come

Sense of Hearing Kimono.
36" x 42"

Ear Cross Section illustration Chris Gralapp

Close up of Middle and Inner Ear, Chris Gralapp

Sense of Sight Kimono.
36" x 42"

Cross section of Eye close up, Chris Gralapp

Sense of Touch Kimono.
36" x 42"

Touch Illustration to come.

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Mitosis Series, all 36" x 48"

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. .

Nanotechnology Series

DNA could be used as a scaffolding upon which little factories and machines could be built. DNA has been shown to fold into cubes and other structures that could support small machines. These paintings were created when cubes were first being studied for this purpose. Other even more interesting structures are being looked at by the lab of Nadrian Seeman and his colleagues today.

There are proteins that are created and broken down at different times during the day and night that keep our clocks going - telling us when we are sleepy, hungry, etc.

**Sense Kimonos for a
Japanese Tea Ceremony

There is a kimono for each sense in this series. Each kimono has imagery of the cells used to receive that particular scent. These kimonos would not be possible without the imagery supplied by scientists doing cutting edge research in these fields. Their credits are listed below, which also say something about what you are looking at in each kimono:
Sight Kimono: Confocal image of macaque retina across bottom of Kimono, courtesy of Dr. Steve Massey, Ophthalmology and Visual Science, University of Texas Medical School at Houston. Central sun image of human retina based on Human Retina watercolor by Chris Gralapp, MA, CMI.

Touch Kimono: Back panel and sleve images from Jason Meyers and David Corey, Harvard Medical School, from the paper Lighting up the senses: FM1-43 loading of sensory cells through nonselective ion channels, J Neurosci. 2003 May 15;23(10):4054-65. Side panels are of Merkel Cells and Neurons, courtesy of Dr. Michael Welsh, University of Iowa.

Hearing Kimono: Side panels are view of hair cells inside an ear from the top, courtesy of Dr. James O. Pickles, University of Queensland. Spiral structure is a human cochlea, and the background patterns are human otoliths.